Monday, December 22, 2008

Wowee... what a crazy couple of weeks it's been!! But of course the highlight for me would have to be Create 08 with Heidi Swapp!!!!! Mel, Leanne and I has such a FANTASTIC time!! (Had a gorgeous bunch of ladies at our table too!) The retailer's night on the Friday night was great... we learned some new techniques, and made a banner (mine's now hanging in my scraproom - love it!) and then Saturday was a full-on day of inspiration and creating! We completed a few pages of our 2009 calendar, then put together a really cool mirror book mini album. (I can't wait to get back into finishing them off after Christmas is over.) Heidi was wonderful and so down to earth -a lot of fun and so inspiring! She took the time to chat with everyone and her and Chanel made sure we all had a great day. We came away from there totally re-energised with heaps of new techniques and ideas... and some really cool projects to finish off. We managed to snap a few photos in amongst it all...these ones were taken on the Friday night on Mel's camera...

After Create 08, I had to totally shift my focus into Christmas mode again... (pretty hard since all I wanted to do was get in there and scrap! LOL) How crazy are the shopping centres!!?!! Thankfully I'm all done with shopping now... plus I've finished all my handmade gifts and all I have to do now is finish off my wrapping! Phew! It's all kept me flat out busy (which is why my blog has been so neglected lately... sorry about that!).. but at least now the pressure is off and I'm really looking forward to Christmas Day! We're heading up to Mum and Dad's place for the day.. should be fun! The kids cannot wait and have been counting down the days!

I've got a little bit of creating to share. No layouts I'm afraid (haven't had time!) but I did make these little Christmas ornaments using the Basic Grey chipboard ornaments and Imaginisce Snowy Jo papers...

Here are a couple of Christmas cards I made using my fave Darkroom Door stamps...

(I've just realised that since I took this photo I've actually added a little red & white check ribbon to each reindeer's neck... it finished them off nicely.)

I've also been sewing little handmade gifts. I can't share them all just yet as a couple of friends haven't seen theirs yet... but I did make a few of these little fabric baskets and filled them with yummy biscuits and chocolates for a few workmates...

They were so easy to make and I found the pattern here via Melissa Goodsell's blog. If you need a last minute gift give it a go! Seriously... they don't take long to make and they're really cute!

If any of you have kids and you haven't had time to post a letter to Santa this year, then check out www.emailsanta.com . It's fantastic! You get a response straight away and the kids just love it! Check it out for yourself.

Oh... and before I go I want to say a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Cherie since it's her birthday today! (Hope you get totally spoiled!!!!)

And to all of you who pop in to read my little blog from time to time and to those of you who leave a comment to brighten my day, I wish you all (and your families) a wonderful, safe and Merry Christmas!!! (I truly love that you take the time to visit!!) I hope you have a day full of family, fun and relaxation... and that Santa brings you something nice!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas sure is coming up fast! How is everyone going with preparations? I'm getting there slowly but surely. At least I've got the kids' prezzies sorted so that's one big thing out of the way!

We started December by putting up the tree and decorations on the 1st. We waited until Ayden got home from school then we put on some Christmas music and got right into it. The kids had so much fun going through the decorations box and putting them on the tree. (Why is it though that kids like to put 10 decorations all on the one branch? LOL) We had to wait until it got dark for the lights to go on...I managed to snap this pic of the kids as they ooh'd and ahh'd at the pretty lights...We had Ayden's school Christmas concert on Thursday afternoon and thankfully the rain held off for them! Ayden's class sang "Aussie Jingle Bells" and it was so fun to watch. Ayden had been practicing for weeks at home! They all had to wear a singlet, shorts and thongs (very Aussie!) and something Christmassy on their heads... Ayden chose reindeer antlers... very cute!

I finally sat down and made some Christmas cards over the last couple of days using my favourite new Darkroom Door stamps...

How cute are those reindeer?! Once I've sent my cards out I'll share what I did with them...

I'm also attempting to do a December Daily album in amongst everything else! You can read all about it here on Ali Edwards' blog. I know a lot of you are doing one too and I'm looking forward to seeing how your albums progress! Since I'm not printing my photos at home (I prefer the shop printed quality) I'll share some of my pages once I've got them done. Just didn't have time this weekend.

I do have a couple of layouts to share though. These have appeared in Scrapbooking Memories a couple of months back...

The first one I actually did last year! Sorry about the dodgy pic... looks a little crooked... but it was just too lumpy to scan with those ribbon flowers. This photo was taken the first time Madi felt grass beneath her feet.

It's a bit hard to see the detail on the next one, but the butterfly wings were cut away from the paper and pop-dotted off the page to add dimension. I backed it with black cardstock to give a shadowy effect.

I received this lovely blog award recently by these gorgeous gals - Belinda, Leanne, Leeanne and Nic. (Thankyou so much girls! I love that you drop by from time to time!)

The rules are...

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Put links to their blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

So now it's my turn to pass it on. Well, there are so many blogs I could list here... it's hard to narrow it down to 5! So........If you have time go and check out the following blogs. I pop in quite often. I love them because every one of them if full of inspiration... and they're fabulous ladies too...

We've got another busy week ahead... and it's Ayden's last week at school! He'll be finding out who his new teacher and classmates will be for 2009, there'll be a class Christmas party and all sorts of fun to finish off the year. It should be good!

Looks like we're in for another storm here this afternoon. They seem to have been non-stop over the past few weeks here in SE Qld. We had a big booming light show here last night right on the kids bedtime... needless to say it took them a while to drop off to sleep!